Spatial Structure of Japanese Religion - Geography of Religion in Japan: Religious Space, Landscape, and Behavior - page 124

organization supervises it. Third, the faith does not have a social function that
warranted a meeting or a meal with kami with other members. Accordingly, it
was nothing but a part of another religious or neighborhood association. The
purpose of the association was to get an amulet of Kanamura .

3.2.5.2 Spatial Characteristics of the Second Area

(1) The Characteristics of an Aspect of Kanamura Faith
The second area of the Kanamura faith can be illustrated by analysis of Shimo-
uchikawa area in Yoshikawa. This analysis showed differences and similarities
between the Kanamura faith and other faiths in Ko organization , events, and
religious behavior. There were eight ko in Shimo-uchikawa, and seven visited
famous shrines and temples. Each ko had different members. The Ujiko of the
Oiwa shrine was organized by one representative from the Ujiko and ten man-
agers from each group. There were three festivals in a year: Obisha on February
11, spring prayer on March 15, and the donation of crops on December 15.
Obisha was the most important for members of the Ujiko . Apart from the two
managers, a Shuku was selected from each group who organized the preparation
of festival goods or meals with kami . Associations were founded to visit famous
shrines and temples and gain divine favor. These religious forms are listed in
Table 3.11 . Because associations differed in the way of visiting, the number of
visits, and divine favor, they normally had their own managers (or master) and
members. Four of the associations (Furumine, Togakushi, Haruna, and Mitake)
were organized by the village. Three of the associations (Kanamura, Itakura,
and Shinshoji) were organized by the group. The Kanamura association was
organized by four groups (Higashi, Nishi, Okuma, and Shimo).
The master or managers usually inherited their position, which sustained the
position. Most associations held meetings to select delegates and collect mem-
bership fees. Each ko had its own members and rites, and although the ko coop-
erated, each was independent. For example, the associations that visited Haruna
and Mitake were independent, but both had the same managers and held a com-
mon meeting to organize the visit. The Itakura and Shinshoji Temple associa-
tions were similar. Moreover, their relationships can be inferred from the fact
that visitors were infl uenced by other associations. A person could cede his turn
to visit to another person. In Shimo-uchikawa, the regular meeting of a neigh-
borhood association doubled as a postmeeting (meal with kami). For example,
in April, the managers distributed amulets of Kanamura, Furumine, Haruna,
and Mitake to each member. Thus, the regular meeting of a neighborhood asso-
ciation also functioned as the postmeeting of associations that visited famous
shrines and temples, and as a venue for recruiting new members. Furthermore,
the direct distribution to each household of the amulets from Ise Jingu or a tute-
lary shrine distinguished the Kanamura from the Ujiko organization.
We can understand religious behavior underlying the time and frequency of
visits to shrines in this region. People visited the tutelary shrines several times